P.N. Balji – My Parents, Dehli Road & the Naval Base Experience Part 2 | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. P.N. Balji recalls the rich cultural life of the Naval Base – the Malayalam plays that his father performed in and celebrations of Onan, the harvest festival. His mother Narayani was very protective of her son and his father’s love of language rubbed off on Balji’s long career in journalism. Balji also talks about his schooldays, the villages of Chong and Sembawang outside the Naval Base and the question of integration with recent migrants from India. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/D4EgSkOEK9A Part 2 | https://youtu.be/vmtT1HTdvPA 00:00 Journalism & My Love of Words 08:08 My Mother, Narayani 11:56 Malayalees of the Naval Base 16:32 Malayalam Plays 23:17 The British Legacy 24:57 Schooldays 28:54 Chong Pang & Sembawang Villages 34:25 CECA, Recent Migrants & Integration The Reluctant Editor, https://epigrambookshop.sg/products/the-reluctant-editor-1 Transition: The Story of PN Balji, https://epigrambookshop.sg/products/transition-the-story-of-pn-balji I’m Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian. I’m interested in the history of Singapore and the lives of its people. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city today. We discuss three topics: 1. People and places. 2. Change and continuity. 3. The importance of heritage. As a historian, I try to stay true to the oral history method on a video format and social media platform. I let the interviewee speak, as the ‘voice of the past’ as Paul Thompson put it. No clickbait, no BS, no posturing. The aim is to canvas a wide range of voices on various aspects of Singapore history and heritage – physical, social, cultural, economic. Do like the video, share your memories below and subscribe to the channel for future episodes. Write to lohkahseng@chroniclesresearch.com if you have any of these stories to share: • Old places or kampongs. • Communities – their way of life & culture. • Childhood & schools. • Work or business. Support Chronicles of Old Singapore on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore Follow the channel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551786759344 Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lks992002 Chronicles of Old Singapore is also the name of my research consultancy on the history of Singapore: https://www.chroniclesresearch.com/ Caveat: this is above all a podcast based on personal memory. As has been well-documented in oral history, memory is not always reliable and what is recalled here should not be taken as fact. However, as Alessandro Portelli noted, the subjectivity of oral history is also its great strength, and what is inaccurately remembered may point to how deeply meaningful the past is to people. #singaporehistory #memory #heritage #nostalgia #oralhistory #socialhistory #history #singapore